abounding profusion and abundance. That is, whatever man asks for through the tongue of his capacity and innate needs, they have all been given him. An end can never be reached in counting the divine bounties bestowed on man nor can they be exhausted. Certainly, since the heavens and the earth are a table of bounties for man, and things like the sun and the moon and night and day some of the bounties on the table, the bounties directed towards man are most surely beyond count and calculation.

#### Seventh Mystery of Eloquence

SEVENTH MYSTERY OF ELOQUENCE: It sometimes happens that in order to disallow apparent causes the ability to create and to demonstrate how far they are from this, a verse points out the aims and fruits of the effects so that it may be understood that causes are only an apparent veil. For to will that most wise and purposeful aims are followed, and important results are obtained, is of necessity the work of one who is most Knowing and Wise. Whereas causes are lifeless and without intelligence. So by mentioning the aims and results, such verses show that although causes are superficially and as beings joined to and adjacent to their effects, in reality there is a great distance between them. The distance from the cause to the creation of the effect is so great that the hand of the greatest causes cannot reach the creation of the most insignificant effects. Thus, it is within this long distance between cause and effect that the divine names each rise like stars. The place of their rising is this distance. To the superficial glance mountains on the horizon appear to be joined to and contiguous with the skirts of the sky, although from the mountains to the sky is a vast distance in which the stars rise and other things are situated; so too the distance between causes and effects is such that it may be seen only with the light of the Qur’an through the telescope of belief. For example:

Then let man consider his sustenance. ∗ For that We pour forth water in abundance. ∗ And We split the earth into fragments. ∗ And We produce therein corn, ∗ And grapes and nutritious plants, ∗ And olives and dates, ∗ And enclosed gardens, dense with lofty trees, ∗ And fruits and fodder, ∗ For use and convenience to you and your cattle.(80:24-32)

By mentioning miracles of divine power in a purposeful sequence, this verse ties causes to effects and with the words, “For use and convenience to you” points to an aim at its conclusion. The aim proves that within the sequence of all the causes and effects is a hidden disposer who sees and follows the aim, to whom the causes are a veil. Indeed, with the phrase, “For use and convenience to you and your cattle,” it disallows all the causes the ability to create. It is in effect saying: “Rain comes from the sky